Friday, July 18, 2014

A teacher and I went rogue during Extended School Year---we actually prepared a nutritious healthy snack with the children. The past two years, preparing and serving food in class have been forbidden in our school district.

I've complied with this ridiculous policy even though:

my children can be motivated more to communicate for food than anything else

menu preparation is great for fine motor collaboration with the OT

there's the whole 'step by step' process in preparing a snack that is hard to replicate with other activities

food preparation can promote healthier eating

there's tons of vocabulary with food

etc.....

After watching the crappy lunches roll in, however, with kids refusing to eat anything at school, I just had to prepare one thing with them this summer, and it was Fruit Smoothies! Screen shots of the recipe booklet are here. Link to download entire booklet is below.

For non-verbal, or low verbal children, make sure you have their regular communication systems available. Have pictures available for the bananas and blueberries. My kids wanted to taste them right away, since they didn't understand the whole concept of delayed gratification. They loved the blender, peeling the banana, putting in blueberries one-by-one, and pouring the smoothie.

For the record, my kids didn't want to actually taste the smoothie, so no nutrition policy laws were broken. If we were actually permitted to do this on a regular basis, the cycle of food rigidity would be altered for the better. They had fun doing the prep work, and used a lot of language to make requests and comment.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Hi Everyone! I'm having fun in Extended School Year, and this year, have gone completely paperless. I had posted this last year---It holds true this year, and is working very well for me. It sure beats carrying around 22 manila files of therapy notes every day!

------------------------------------------Here's the post from last year---------------

I hope everyone's summer is going fabulously! Mine sure is--I'm working with about 22 little people during Extended School Year! We are doing lots of fun things---the children all have significant disabilities, so they are working on requesting toys, playing games, reading adapted books, using iPad apps, making simple crafts. That part is great!

What isn't always so great is the paperwork. Each child has goals and during the 5 week session, I'm to write two reports for each child I work with (although the purpose of ESY really isn't to make progress---it's to prevent regression, but I still need data and a report). Each session needs a therapy note, and each day needs some detailed planning. ESY for me is in three sites--two elementary schools across town from each other; along with a home visit twice a week. Most of the teachers and students are new to me. The documentation required is part of my job, and I do it; however, most of the time, I don't have access to the basic necessity of a printer. I am not on the internet server for the schools, since they aren't my usual places to work. In the past, I coped by printing reams of paperwork and forms at my home, or driving to yet another school (my own) hoping that I could find a working printer there to print out lesson plans and therapy note forms.

This year, as much as possible, I've gone almost paperless for ESY. Here's how:

1. Therapy note documentation using Google forms---this required a little bit of work prior to seeing the children, but I have been using Google Forms and Spreadsheets to record both anecdotal and objective data for each session. I was given paper copies of the children's IEPs prior to ESY, so I spent a couple of evenings transferring goals from the IEPs into a Google form.
I have a tutorial HERE, and although the tutorial specifically mentions the iPad as the tool for filling out a Google form, I have simply been using my laptop for all data purposes. Google forms helps me to keep in my mind the specific goals I need to be thinking about for each kid.
Go HERE for the tutorial.

At the very end of ESY, I will print out each spreadsheet (from my regular school) and pass it on to the child's regular speech pathologist, with my signatures (I've learned to allow a spot for my signature for each session after printing).

Some people have wondered if Google forms and spreadsheets are confidential. I maintain confidentiality by not including last names or personal information of the kids such as birthdates, medicaid information, or other identifying information in the Google form. Google forms is simply an efficient, paperless way to record session notes. Printing them out at the very end of ESY and putting the hard copy in the child's speech folder with added information works, while keeping information secure.

2. Lesson plans

Sample plans on Google drive

I do all of my planning in Google drive. I make a table with the schedule, and then insert what I want to do with each child centered around some type of theme. They may not be super detailed, but this plan helps me. I'm on the network at most of my places (WiFi--not for printing, though), so I just open my laptop and can see what I'm supposed to be doing.

Going paperless has allowed me to not have to carry cartons of files around. When writing therapy notes, I simply open my laptop and fill out a form. My notes are actually much more detailed with data and anecdotal comments than if I hand-wrote all of these notes, plus the notes are legible (my handwriting leaves a bit to be desired). Most of the time, I insert a detailed account of the activities and the student's response. I have detailed accounts of behavioral issues, and on a positive note--some communication breakthroughs that have happened.

Extended School Year can be a little intense; however, going mostly paperless has helped me with the work load and has enabled me to write more detailed notes, and spend less time doing so. I've loved it! I do realize I need to print these notes at the end of ESY, but that's nothing compared to lugging files around and printing all the time! Google drive has helped me immensely. I hope it helps you!

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

This is part of what was served our kids today---the remainder was lettuce salad (no dressing) and a very hard whole pear (plastic knives broke when trying to cut it). Be the first to tell me what this main course, and I'll make an adapted e-book for you on a theme of your choice (appealing for those of you who are in special education). (CHCCS employees and my personal FB friends are not eligible). If you guess in the comment section, tell me your email, or let me know what you think this 'food' is by emailing speech40@gmail.com.

For the life of me, I can't understand why a company that specializes in school food can't think about both presentation and nutrition when serving children. Our kids went home hungry today.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

I'm in the middle of Extended School Year. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's essentially summer school for our children with significant disabilities who might regress during long breaks. Most of my children have severe language and cognitive delays, and I'm finding that I really need to go back to basics. These included working on communicative intent, imitation, joint referencing, and replacing behaviors with language. Core vocabulary is lacking with many, so I work with teachers on using basic AAC in the classroom. With some children, simple appropriate use of objects and toys is the focus of an activity.

I love ESY in that the experience makes me a better therapist. I meet many new children, and have repeat little friends from previous years. I ponder what I would do with them differently if they were my permanent students, and then look at my own caseload to make sure I am doing everything I can to help them become functional communicators. Summers such as this really do help me grow personally and professionally.

The bottom line is that I haven't had the need to get super creative with materials. This summer, the goal of therapy has not been reading a fancy book or creating paper plate sea animals, even though I do love making things with the kids.

That being said, here's a repost from last year of many of my ocean-themed books and activities.

---------------post from May 2013 below----------------------------------------------

Things are winding down at my school in preparation for our annual test-taking ritual.
This year---a little less frenzy, since scores won't be available for
everyone until October. This late date will eliminate retests (if a kid
didn't pass in the past years, he or she had the joy of taking it
again). This year, there's a reprieve from that for both the kids and
for the adults who have to administer the tests. I'm happy!

For
those of you who need materials centered around the beach or ocean
theme, I've been collecting them over the years. During summer ESY
(extended school year), we typically celebrate the beach and ocean, so I
have several adapted books and crafts in my tool chest. Here they
are! All free as usual.